Freefall
by smashingly
Summary: Roxas lost her that day...or so he thought. He sees her everywhere he goes, every mission he's on, and his only goal is to bring her back.
1. The End

"Who are you…again…?"

I held my head in my hands. Nothing made sense. Who was I? How did I end up here, and why had I fallen? Maybe…maybe…someone had pushed me off the clock tower…? The only one around, though, was this…oddly familiar black-haired girl.

I staggered towards her, my vision fading in and out. "It's weird…I feel like I'm forgetting something…really important." I said, approaching her. She was on her knees, weakly wobbling back and forth. Everything about her seemed so familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Her image was fuzzy, and I felt like I was blacking out.

Then, she spoke. For someone so sickly looking, she appeared to be…at peace.

"…_You'll be…better off now…Roxas."_

And then it hit me. I was Roxas.

My eyes widened slightly as I remembered who I was, and that this was Twilight Town, and that I come here nearly every day.

The girl in front of me lost her breath and began to fall over. Before I could think, I reached out and caught her head in my arm. Her body sunk to the ground and I held her up, but only as a…sort of courteous gesture. I may have not known who this girl was but something about her appealed to me enough to catch her. I stared at her limp body for a moment before a small sparkle caught the corner of my eye. And then another. And another. I turned my head to see several shining shards, almost like crystal, glistening in the sun, lifting off of the girl's body and rising, fading into the air above us. Holding this girl made me feel as though I had just broken a mirror.

I turned my attention back to her, squinting in confusion. "Am I the one who…did this to you…?" I asked, taking in her condition and putting two and two together.

"No," she answered right away, somewhat startling me. Her expression seemed pained, as if talking was hurting her. "It was my choice…" she continued, "…to go away now."

I didn't understand that one bit, so I let her continue.

"Better that, than to do nothing…and let Xemnas have his way."

Xemnas? Oh, the…guy I work for? The lead of the Organization, that Xemnas? How could she know Xemnas?

"I belong with Sora, and now…I am going back… to be with him…" she went on, her voice fading ever so slightly in between words. I watched as she slowly brought her small hand up to her shoulder to meet mine, where I was holding onto her. She spoke my name again. Every time she said it, I felt as though I was coming close to realizing who she was and how she knew me. "Roxas…I need you…to do me a favor."

Favor…?

"All those hearts that I've captured…_Kingdom Hearts_…set them free." She winced in pain as she drew out her words.

Wait a second. "Kingdom…Hearts…free them?" I asked myself, quietly. Why would I do that? All those missions I've been on…all the Heartless I had fought…why would I…set them free?

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of crackling. I looked down to the source, the girl's feet. I was shocked to see them beginning to crystallize. I reached out to them, as if there was something I could possibly do for her. Who was she, and how had this happened to her?

"It's too late…for me to undo my mistakes," she continued. I couldn't believe she was still talking through the pain. My gaze turned back to her. I could practically feel the hurt in my eyes as I stared at the small girl, dying in my arms. She looked up to me. Her expression was pained and yet ever so calm. "But…you can't let Xemnas have Kingdom Hearts. You can't."

I felt horrible for not understanding why she was requesting all this from me.

My eyes wandered back down to her body, the crystals rearing closer to her midsection. Her voice brought me to look at her as she said her farewell to me. To Roxas.

"Goodbye, Roxas…see you again. I'm glad I got to meet you. …oh, and of course…Axel, too." She let out a weak chuckle. "You're both my best friends."

Those last words made me cringe. I was her best friend, and yet…I didn't…understand…

I watched her as she brought her hand up to my face. The moment she laid it on my cheek, I felt somewhat comforted, and I leaned into it, feeling my expression soften. "Never forget…that's…the truth."

She lay silent for a moment and I furrowed my brows…something was coming…I…I _knew_…!

I gasped, feeling her cold, gloved hand move away from my face. I grabbed it as it was falling back to her. "No! _Xion!" _I cried, grasping her hand as if my life depended on it. "Who…Who else will I have ice cream with?" I asked her. I don't understand why those were the only words I could speak as I held my best friend in my arms in her final moments. Only this time, she didn't respond. A smile on her face, her eyes remained closed, and a small ringing pierced my ears. It was the sound of the crystals, finally making their way up to her torso. My mouth gaped as I was at loss for words. I couldn't let her go. Not just yet. Not like this. I wasn't prepared to…to just…let her leave me. I began to panic. I hoped that if I held onto her hand, maybe she wouldn't go. But I was wrong. The crystals overtook her head and the light shined into my eyes. I looked down at my hand, the one that was holding hers, and opened it; except I no longer held her hand, but instead…a tiny handful of gleaming crystals, which too rose to the sky upon release.

I looked up slowly, my eyes stinging, maybe from the light, or maybe…something else. I watched as the glistening shards faded into the sunset, as if…as if Xion had never existed. I watched until I felt a lump in my throat and my lower lip began to questionably quiver. I looked to where I had held her in my arms, only to find a small shell in her place. I reached out to barely touch it…but I stopped, as I felt as though something was about to burst out of me. I hunched over. The image of the shell on the ground grew blurry as I felt something wet and warm fall out of my eyes and stream down my cheeks. I didn't know what it was, or what was happening…what this feeling was at all. I didn't have a Heart. How could I feel? The only thing I knew for certain…all this pain…all this _sadness_…only she could make me feel this way.

"…_Xion…"_ I whispered.


	2. The Beginning

I ran.

That's all I did.

I got up from that spot and I just ran. I ran a few feet, eyes burning and water still pouring from them. I remember throwing my hand into the air and trying to summon the dark corridor, only to remember that I had run away from the Castle…just to be with her. My vision was cloudy and I couldn't think straight. My throat was burning, as if I were holding back a giant scream. I looked to my left and my right and every direction in between. I didn't know where to go. I couldn't go back to the Castle. I couldn't stay here. I couldn't just go back to the clock tower and pretend that none of this happened. I hunched forward a bit, bringing my sleeves to my eyes in attempt to wipe the water away. I pulled them back and observed what was falling from my face. Maybe I, too, was broken.

I continued to run. I ran until the sun set, and then I stopped. Bright neon signs illuminated Twilight Town. I paused at an alley way. I had stopped leaking water, and I felt nothing…as I should. I have no heart. I stopped but I didn't sit down. All I could do what stare. All I could think about was what I had left behind at the clock tower. But I didn't want to think about it, even though it buzzed around my head. And it made me sick.

I threw my hood over my head and continued.

I didn't run anymore, just walked. I didn't know where I was going. Hell, I was probably going in circles. But I continued, until…I felt a presence, or several presences for that matter, draw very close to me.

And then it went black.

* * *

><p>I awoke the next morning a bit too early. My head killed, and I felt like my body was made of lead. I couldn't get up…not just yet…<p>

* * *

><p>Hours later, I opened my eyes to familiar surroundings. I was…in my room. At the Castle That Never Was. This didn't make sense.<p>

I sat up, peering down at my sheets. There I was, in my boxers. My coat laid on the ground in a heap next to the bed. I'm confused. Had I been here the whole time?

I brought my knee up and rested an elbow on it, running my hand through my hair as I tried to recall the night prior. Only, my hair felt sticky, and so did the rest of my head. I was…sweating. Weird.

Slinging my legs over the side of the bed, I kind of sat there for a minute, not knowing what to do. I didn't understand why I was here, or why I felt so…empty. I mean, I had always felt this way. That's how Nobodies are supposed to feel. And yet I felt even worse than that. I felt like everything I had ever liked had been taken away from me in an instant, and on top of that, someone punched me in the gut.

But, I guess it couldn't hurt to explore.

About an hour later, I peered out of my room, fully dressed. I didn't see anybody in the hall. Seemed safe enough. I slid out.

Now, mornings at the Castle are different than normal places. For instance, most worlds have things called restaurants, where people come and they're shown a piece of paper that lists a bunch of names of foods and dishes, and they tell this person what they want off that list, and the person makes it for them. I guess that's how they eat breakfast. But here in the Castle, you have to fend for yourself. No one cares what you eat, when you eat, or if you eat at all. So what usually happens is that everyone separates to go into different worlds to visit these restaurant things. Usually, me and Axel go to Twilight Town and eat there. For breakfast, he always gets things that a normal person should eat. Like, eggs and bacon and sausage and stuff. And then he orders a big glass of really sour lemonade to spoil it all. I don't know, he's weird. I always get these flat little brown cake-like things, smothered in thick syrup. I never get sick of them, just like how I never get sick of sea salt ice cream. Axel gets mostly healthy stuff, I get hotcakes, and…and she…always gets…

Hrnh. My head began to hurt, hurt bad enough for me to grasp it, at least. Something was wrong about the last part of that…sentence…

I feel myself getting dizzy so I grab onto the door frame of the Grey Room, which, surprisingly, is empty. Maybe everyone is out eating.

All of a sudden, I feel a hard pat on my back that almost knocks me over.

"Heya, partner. Ready to go?"

I turned around to see a head of flames atop a well-spirited looking Nobody. Axel.

He walked around me, slightly grinning, stopping in front of me and waving a hand in front of my face. "Earth to Roxas. Let's go. I'm starving, man."

At first, I didn't know what to say. It felt like it had been years since I'd last seen Axel. And hadn't we had an argument? I was surprised he still wanted to go to breakfast with me. Then again, he has this knack for blowing off arguments as if they never happened. I can't seem to do anything but stare and nod, however. He gives me this weirded out look before turning around and opening a corridor. We both step into it, and moments later, we're in Twilight town. The sun was still rising there.

Our normal place to eat is this small shop ran by a moogle, bearing much resemblance to the one that hangs in the corner of the Grey Room. He gets our food and then we usually take it to the clock tower to watch the sun rise. I seem to have forgotten all about the existence of munny, however, so today Axel paid for both of our meals. He squinted at me as he forked over the cash. I could only imagine our conversation over breakfast.

It gets a little harder for us to eat meals while we're hanging over the ledge of a very high tower, so we usually just sit on the roof of it, instead. Axel sat himself down and pulled his boxed meal out of the paper bag he'd been carrying, then pushed the bag toward me so I could get my own. Except I didn't sit right away. I stood there and looked like an idiot, watching him prepare himself to eat. He noticed, too. He sat in the space between the building and the edge of the tower, pressing his back against the wall and letting his legs rest on the edge like a footstool. Then he would place his box on his stomach and eat his food like that. While he positioned himself and unwrapped a plastic fork, he looked to me, as I hadn't moved. He threw me another really awkward look and gestured towards the spot next to him. "Well, sit down," he said, and jabbed his fork into a sausage patty. I shook my head quickly as if I had just woken from a daze, let out a stuttery "yeah", and plopped down in my spot. I looked at the brown bag next to me. For some reason I wasn't feeling too hungry, but I pulled out my own box so that Axel would stop giving me odd looks.

"So what's up wiff you, man?" Axel asked through a mouthful of patty.

"Uhhh, y'know…nothing much I guess…just another day," I lied, looking to the opposite direction. Last I checked, I'd left the Organization. But maybe that was just a dream…

He swallowed. "No, I mean, what's up with you? Why're you acting like a zombie again?" he shot me a sarcastic smile as he waved his plastic fork at me. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood for jokes. I looked back to him slowly, furrowing my brows. I've had enough of this confusion. Nothing was making sense –why I woke up in the Castle, why Axel and I were talking as if nothing had happened between us, and why I felt so…empty. I gave up. I pushed my untouched meal off of my lap and I stood up and looked down at him, fists clenched. "Stop it already!" I shouted angrily, throwing my arm out at him. "What happened yesterday? I know I left! And…_and why are you acting like nothing happened?"_

That was enough for him to stop eating and give me a cold look. He looked at the ground quickly and then back up at me. "I don't know what your deal is, but it's too early for this," he said, shaking his head and turning back to his meal. I know Axel and I know when he's bullshitting me. This was definitely one of those cases.

"Stop lying! What happened to me? Why am I here? And…and where…" I had trouble drawing out the words. I hadn't thought about it until this moment, and I was suddenly hit with a huge wave of something called "sorrow". My anger dropped and I looked down at the ground. "…where is…_she?"_

"Now I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," he argued, picking at his bacon. I had the biggest urge to pick up his box and throw it over the edge of the clock tower. The anger inside me resurfaced and I could feel my blood begin to boil. I grunted, pulling at my hair a bit, trying to think of how to say everything but I lost control and it all came out at once.

"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS THE GIRL WE'VE BEEN SITTING WITH THIS WHOLE TIME?" I screamed, gesturing like a madman. I threw my arm to the spot next to me. "RIGHT HERE! She…she sat RIGHT HERE WITH US EVERY DAY! HOW CAN YOU PRETEND SHE NEVER EXISTED? HOW CAN YOU FORGET..." I trailed off, looking down at my clenched fist. My voice quieted down. "…How can you forget about…"

"Enough, Roxas! Let it GO!"

He startled me. I looked at him. He was now standing, his meal box shoved to the side like mine. He stood in a defensive pose and his eyes raged with a sort of emerald fire that gave me enough reason to step back.

"You think you can do…WHATEVER you WANT," he began, rolling his eyes as he turned his head to the side. He looked down at his hand, and for a moment, I honestly believed he was about to summon his chakrams. My eyes widened and I took another small step back, but I didn't say anything.

"Why can't you just let this go!" he boomed, "She's gone now, Roxas! Get over it! Your memories of her are long since faded by now and so are mine!"

"That's a lie!" I spat, stepping closer to him. "She was our friend! She was our _best damn friend! _And I remember her because I cared for her, and I know you did too! You can sit there and pretend you don't remember a thing about her but I know for a fact that you remember just as well as I do how she sat right HERE with us EVERY. DAY!"

With that, I dropped a knee to the ground and paused. I kept my head down for a moment because I could feel that weird lump in my throat again. But he continued talking, and I looked back up to see him. It sort of hurt.

"…I'm…so sick of you…looking at me like that." I could hear the anger in his voice, the way he paused in between words as if he was holding his rage back. "Looking at me like…I've just drowned your damn puppy," he hissed through gritted teeth. He looked down at his fists, which were clenched rather tightly. "And you have no _right _to look at me like that…after all I've done for you! I...SAVED you. I SAVED your ass so many damn times. Both of yours. Don't you ever forget that. You wouldn't even be here with me today had I not done something about her—"

"Shut up! Shut UP!" I stood up sharply and raised a fist in preparation.

"No! You listen to me, Roxas!" Axel reached over and threw my hand down. "If I hadn't brought her back to Xemnas, they would've destroyed you instead! She was your competition, Roxas! It was you or her! She was just a damn replica but you're the real god damn deal, you moron! The Organization needs you. That's why you're back here. Because I BROUGHT you back. I found you yesterday and I BROUGHT YOU BACK TO WHERE YOU BELONG! She was lucky because she ended up sacrificing herself. But if they had found her instead…" he trailed off. His shoulders sagged a bit and he frowned. I knew exactly what he was feeling at that moment.

"…Had they found her, let's just say that the last memory you would've had of her was watching her be ripped to shreds."

I wanted to continue. I wanted to fight. I wanted to argue because I didn't understand how he could just let her go and try to make me believe she never existed but that right there shut me up. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out, so I looked down, and I shuffled my feet, and I gave in. I turned and I sat back down in my spot and threw my box down onto my gut and jammed my unwrapped fork into a cold pancake. I didn't say a word.

Neither did he. He quieted down and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly before returning to his box much like me. For a few minutes, we sat in silence and picked at our food. Neither of us knew was to say.

I guess that's because everything that needed to be said, was said.


	3. Unusual

I couldn't find it in me to finish my hotcakes, much to Axel's displeasure. Of course I felt a little bad about wasting his munny, so I offered them to him, but he only turned the opposite way, which pissed me off even more. He had no right to act this way to me, considering that he had _lied_ to me about everything going on! I didn't say anything though, because…well, he was right when he said that it was too early for this. Not to mention, I could tell he was about a flame away from pulling out his chakrams on me. Needless to say, we both sat in an uncomfortable silence as he quietly finished his food and I had boredly cut mine up to what looked like hundreds of individual pieces. We stood up to leave, me leading the way down the stairs of the tower, and let me tell you, I could practically feel the pain in my back from the daggers his stare was digging into me. I just wanted to go "home".

We stepped into the Corridor in silence, which undoubtedly made it even more eerie. I never did appreciate walking through these things. As its name suggests, it's all darkness, all around you. It's like the lights went out and you're walking to find a candle or a lighter but you can't see where you're going, so you're cautiously taking small steps to wherever you would keep such things because you're uneased with the idea of what might pop out at you, or what you'll run into. At least…that's how it is for me. Axel seems to have no problem with it, though, because he just strides right along. I know, because I feel him brush past me in the dark, hinting that I was walking too slow in front of him.

Finally, we spot a small light in the midst of the darkness, and we make our wards towards it. As we step into the light and out of the Corridor, I can't help but feel a little upset to be back here. I mean, I ran away, so I had every right to be upset to be here. But I was uncomfortable with the thought of running into someone other than Axel, because, well…shouldn't it have been big news all over the Castle that I had left? I especially wasn't looking forward to seeing Saix, wherever he may be, considering that we had erupted in a bloody battle as I was escaping the place. Of course I'd beaten him, and I'm sure he wasn't too happy about that. Come to think of it…how was I supposed to act all of this out? What, we were just supposed to forget that we fought, that I had left? This whole thing just screamed "awkward".

"Roxas."

Whoa.

I had been rambling to myself for so long that I hadn't realized that Axel was still here. I had been making my way back to my room to sort things out, when I turned around to face him. He was still standing by the Corridor, his eyes looking a bit sympathetic as he sighed. "Yeah?" I asked.

"I'm sorry that I snapped on you earlier, but seriously, watch yourself," he said vaguely, waving a hand to dismiss the Corridor before making his way towards me. He stepped around me, probably making his way back to his room, when he stopped again and jerked his head a little in my direction. "By the way," he said, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, "you owe me about twenty bucks." And with that, he turned and disappeared into the darkened hallway exiting the Grey Room, leaving me to kind of laugh to myself. Good old Axel.

I begin heading to my room and I'm hit with this really weird feeling in my gut, like something bad's about to happen. I think it's probably because I'm worried about running into Saix on the way there. Gosh, if I'm only subconsciously pretending to feel all this, being able to actually have emotions must be tough.

I'd just gotten to my room, pausing in front of the door, looking up at the big white "XIII" written above it. I was hesitating for some reason, because well, what if they'd went into my room or something? What if they'd begun moving stuff out and were still in there? That's pretty risky. I bit my lip and slowly leaned in and pressed the side of my head against the cold door, listening carefully. It sounded pretty quiet. Good. But—wait! I hear footsteps!

I pressed my hands to the door and widened my eyes as I tried to listen more closely. Yeah, yeah…those were definitely footsteps! In my room! And they were…they were coming closer! I gasped, immediately removing myself from the door and backing away as quietly as I could, until—

"Yo! Roxas!"

"AH GEEZ!" I screamed, whipping around to see that I had bumped into something, that something being Demyx. Quickly turning my head back to the door, I noticed that no one had come out. So, those footsteps I heard were actually just Demyx walking towards me. Wow. My expression flattened as I looked up at him. "Yeah. Hey."

He waved with a smile, clearly not taking the hint. "Heh. So, sup man? Haven't seen you in like, years, dude."

"You just saw me yesterday…"

"Not the point! Whatever!"

I let out a long sigh and smashed my palm into my face, slowly dragging it down. I really wasn't in the mood to talk to anybody, especially him. No offense to the guy, but he was one to talk your ear off about things you didn't care about. I tried to be polite about the situation, even though I wanted to tell him to get lost. I pulled my hand away from my face and made an uneasy noise, bringing a hand to my hip and looking down awkwardly. "Listen, Demyx, I uh, have some stuff to take care of, so…yeah. I'll see you later."

"Oh," he frowned, rubbing the back of his head before shrugging. "Alright, chill. Catch ya." He turned and walked away, humming some weird tune that I didn't understand. But at least he was gone. Good guy, but geez, he was odd. Oh well. I shrugged it off as I faced the door again, reaching for the handle. I grasped it, inhaled, and opened it quickly—only to find…

…well, nothing. It was just how I left it. That's good. Exhaling, I stepped in and let the door shut itself as I flopped down onto my bed. Usually at this time I would be ready to leave for a mission, but…I didn't know what to do. I hadn't seen Saix in the Grey Room, nor anybody, for that matter. Maybe today was one of those days. Those uh, vacation things. Either way, I wouldn't have been making my way to the Grey Room to find out what my mission was, let's just say.

I had my face buried into my pillow, which caused me to become sort of suffocated after a while. Turning my head to the side, I kind of wondered how I was able to breathe if I didn't have a heart, nor was I supposed to exist. If I were to stop breathing, or if I had let myself suffocate, would nothing happen to me? I wouldn't die, right? If something doesn't exist, it can't die. But then again, there was the Dusks. If I stopped breathing, maybe I'd turn into one. Eesh. Better not take the chance.

…Wait, whoa. What am I even doing?

I left this place! What was I doing just laying around?

I grunted as I pushed myself up, looking around. Well, at least now I had some time to pack what little things I owned, rather than the first time, when I just left everything behind. I backed up off my bed and let out a small stretch before turning to my nightstand, reaching down to open its small drawer. It was mostly empty, except for my diary. I winced. That diary was filled with tons of memories, things that I didn't want to remember…memories of all my times here, of all of Saix's bullshit, all my memories of…her.

…Of her! My gosh, I must've had some sort of memories of her recorded in there!

Eyes widening, I quickly grabbed the book and flipped it open. The page I landed on was absolutely blank. But I didn't understand that. I had used up nearly all of the pages in my diary…

I thumbed through the pages, flipping them this way and that. Blank. All blank. Every memory I had was gone, including the ones about her. I couldn't believe it. I shut my eyes and groaned loudly, throwing the book back into the drawer. It was useless to me now.

Turning away from my nightstand, I brought a hand to my face, much like how I did when I was with Demyx. I stood there in the middle of my room, wallowing in what Xigbar would've called "self pity". I remained that way for a few minutes before I opened my eyes in between the fingers pressed to my face, eyeing the rest of my room. The only thing left was my closet, really, which I know was only filled with dark robes. But, well, maybe there was something deep in there I hadn't seen yet.

I pulled it open and lo and behold, about twenty individual robes stared me in the face. Great. Scowling, I reached an arm behind one of the robes on the end and shoved them all to one side of my closet so that I could get a better view of what else was in there. I peeked my head in and looked to the side that wasn't infested with robes, but there was nothing there except a row of black Organization pants. Nice. Oh well. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to bring an extra robe, seeing as it was all I had to wear, and I guess an extra pair of pants and shoes wouldn't kill me, either. I grabbed one of each and brought it over to my bed. I laid the robe down on the mattress, letting it hang off the edge, and I set my pants on top of it towards the bottom, and set my boots down at the end of the robe, on the ground, before turning back to my closet to shut it. But, as I stepped away, I heard something shuffle behind me. Maybe the robe had slid off the bed or something.

I shifted back around, ready to grab it off the floor, only to see that it hadn't fallen off. Nothing had. But I now understood what the sound was, because as I turned around, I saw that my robe, pants, and boots were now occupied.

Sitting in their spot was a hooded figure in my clothes. And a familiar one, at that.

I couldn't believe it. I caught my breath in my chest as I gasped, taking a big step back. I was absolutely mortified by what I was staring at, considering that I hadn't been turned away long enough for someone to have entered my room and sat on my bed. But as I stood there, stunned, unable to make words or even move an inch, the figure sat just as still as me. The bottom half of the face was visible to me and I recognized it at once. The small mouth smiled at me from beneath the shadow of the hood.

It was her.

I knew it because that had been the very same smile she had given me when she was first introduced.

At that point, I wanted to say a lot of things, but I just stood there with my mouth open because I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not. For one thing, she didn't move at all, and neither did I, which sort of caused me to feel like I was in space. I was trying to absorb everything. I mean, I barely remembered her at all. I didn't even know her name. But I had to say something! Here she was, right there with me, on my bed, smiling at me. This wasn't possible, even in the world of Nobodies. But I had to say something to her. So there I stood, making a few awkward noises in _attempt _to speak, until I finally was able to push enough air out of my chest to make actual, audible words.

"..Y…you!" was the only thing that escaped from my lips.

But I regretted it.

As soon as I spoke, her form vanished, and the clothes she had been wearing, _my_ clothes, fell into a pile on the bed and floor. I didn't move. I thought maybe if I was still, she would come back. But she didn't. I was still for a while, waiting for her, until a small rattling sound emitted from my nightstand, as if something had fell from within it, or been dropped in. The sudden sound made me jump out of my skin. Hesitating, I slowly made my way to the drawer, finding even my own breathing to be too loud. I had left it open. When I stepped up to it and peered into the drawer, I was astounded, and I immediately wanted to scream.

For lying on top of my diary was now a small shell, the same one that I had found in place of her body when she died.


End file.
